Urbanophile

Yeah, rock climbing is dead at Zion, but expect something else in the near future. Any idea how soon? I love climbing but being in Westlake means the drive out to Cleveland Rock Gym is a bit further than I would like. Sorry, I meant "something else" as in something else is happening with Zion. This is intriguing to me. I'd love to see some life brought to that building again. Though I'm still pretty disappointed the Zion Climbing Gym project never happened. It was a pretty cool and unique plan.

I actually used this site for an assignment in a real estate market analysis class. My hypothetical development would've encompassed the whole triangular area between Euclid, E 117th, and the railroad tracks to the east. If I recall correctly, the parking lot in the back is also owned by UCI, and the car dealership and garden center are owned by random people. It really shouldn't be too difficult for an experienced developer to acquire all of that land.

^ Last I saw, there has been more progress. I'm planning on going to PHS later today so I'll snap some pics.

^ This really is a shock and very sad. I did not see that coming. I've only been to the Barking Spider a handful of times, but I always loved it. There's no other place like it.

Honestly, CSU could easily build a small dorm building on the useless grassy lawn that is next to the urban affairs building. That way they wouldn't have to wait until the Wolstein Center comes down to start building new on-campus student housing.

^ I really like the new virtual tour. The new Fenn Hall addition will be a huge improvement, and I'm very excited for the new courtyard that'll be behind it (this campus could always use more green space - so long as it's not a suburban-style yard). However, this map really puts into perspective how desperately CSU needs more student housing on campus.

Really? In my opinion, that's a big downgrade. There is almost no activity on this section of Clifton. Weren't they previously considering the former PNC bank building at Clifton and 115th? Why did they change their minds?

If they want to rebuild on-site, I think it could be done if they relocate the prison portion somewhere else, and then rebuild the police HQ and courts in the former space occupied by the prison complex. That would leave half of the block open for private development.

There's enough development happening that it has been given a terrible district name: SoLo (UGH)

I think Matches wins this thread.

Wait, did they actually drop the "Corning Place" name for Garfield? If so, that's great! The Garfield name actually has significance.

I like the design. I just hope that soon one of these tower proposals doesn't just have a flat top. Between this, NuCLEus, and the Weston tower(s), a lot of flat-topped buildings have been proposed and we already have a lot of those in Cleveland. Even the new Hilton, while not technically flat, looks flat from a distance.

A few people have called it Duck Island Coffee, but it's actually called Duck Rabbit Coffee. Just so y'all know.

^ I think I had heard that it would be something rowing-related, but I have no idea where I heard that.

Will this building only have one retail space? What about the E 6th side of the building?

^^ PHS, the brown-beige is what is being painted over. The gray color scheme is the new one. I think it looks much better.

I could be wrong, but I think that residential is prohibited on this site because of possible contamination. Or maybe I'm thinking of the Midland Steel site. Regardless, even if residential isn't a possibility, they could have gone with a better less-sprawling design. They also could have split this parcel up to allow for future development alongside the kennel. Instead we get a mediocre piece of crap that could just as easily be built in Strongsville. It's too bad they didn't extend the "Urban Frontage Line" along this part of Detroit. That would have made it much harder to build this crappy building.

Dealer Tire makes a lot of money. Seriously, more money than you'd ever expect and their bonuses are crazy. So, people were willing to keep them in the city no matter what it took. Hence the big parking garage.

I don't love the sign, but it looks better than I expected. I'd be willing to take 3 more of those JACK signs in exchange for taking down that pedestrian walkway...

^ I'm not the biggest fan, but still, Huntington Convention Center has a much better ring to it than First Merit Convention Center.

I actually hadn't heard that that lot was earmarked for housing, so this isn't a major loss to me since I always assumed it would stay parking for a while. I'm more curious about the lot(s) between Archer and the Bingham off of W. 10th. A while back I heard rumors that a developer was looking at that area for housing. That would really help carry the momentum of Flats East Bank up along the rest of the river.

^ I'm still holding onto hope for a Sherwin-Williams tower.

^ I think that they will be building an elevated platform to go over Doan Brook. The new Maltz Performing Arts Center is pretty disconnected from the rest of campus, so this is a way of creating a new connection.

^ Oh, cool! That actually looks pretty good. I hope they plan to incrementally add "buffers" like that along all the edges of Malls B and C.

These are gonna look ridiculous, but to be honest I kinda want to steal one for myself...